Noche Vieja

On New Year's Eve in Spain, the tradition is to eat twelve grapes, one for each stroke of midnight. If you are able to eat twelve grapes in twelve seconds, it means you will have a good year. For every grape that you aren't able to eat, you will suffer that many months of bad luck. Doesn't sound TOO hard, except that all the grapes in Spain have big seeds. In fact, it actually sounds like a recipe for disaster... new years eve revelers, enjoying their Cava maybe a little too much, and then they have to rapidly stuff twelve seeded grapes in their mouth and swallow? Hmm... Well, the tradition began about 100 years ago when some grape farmers who had an enormous harvest of bad grapes that they needed to get rid of suggested the idea and it apparently stuck. Go figure.

I'll be participating in the tradition this year, from the wild streets of Barcelona. Then off to Italy for ten days. I'll post again when I return. Here's to a happy and healthy new year!

Happy New Year Everyone! Prospero Año Nuevo! Feliç Any Nou!